very telling

i was just listening to my recommendations on last.fm, and "the holly and the ivy" by mulan from the disney princesses christmas CD came on.

yeah, like this was the picture that showed up as a picture of the artist:


not quite sure what that's supposed to mean, but all i have to say is that that was NOT a song i would have recommended for myself. and why is mulan on last.fm anyways?

i married a stranger

tommy and i got engaged one year and one week ago along with approximately 35 other couples in our singles ward (seriously. true story). so our bishopric decided to teach a marriage prep class during sunday school to help out all these soon-to-be newlyweds in our ward. the theme of that class was YOU WILL MARRY A STRANGER. they really wanted us to not be surprised when after we got married, we discovered that we didn't actually know our new spouse AT ALL.

(this may have been because our 2nd counselor actually DID marry a stranger--he got engaged 10 days after meeting his wife. seriously.)

anyways, i didn't really feel like i married a stranger. sure, i didn't really know how much tommy likes hot chocolate before we got married (a lot), and he probably didn't know how grouchy i can be in the mornings. but all in all, we haven't really had very many surprises.

until now.

just yesterday, tommy's mom happened to mention offhand how tommy was his high school valedictorian.

i can't even spell valedictorian. (i seriously had to look it up.)

in the 2+ years we've been a couple, tommy has never mentioned this.
in the almost 9 months that we've been married, tommy has never mentioned this.
even when we had a rather extended conversation the other day about valedictorians and high school rankings (because tommy's little brother is HIS class's valedictorian--yes, tommy's family has had 4 of their 7 children to graduate high school be the valedictorian)--even then, tommy never mentioned this.
his MOM is the one who ended up telling me this.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? i mean, sure, is it really THAT big of a deal that he had the highest grades of everyone in his high school class? probably not. but . . . then why didn't he tell me? (he's too modest, that's why.)

i married a stranger. i don't even know who he is anymore. so i'm posting this to embarrass him since he doesn't really want anyone to know.

tommy, the valedictorian.

muzak

i think you can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to. if you looked at my music, i don't really know what it would tell you about me, because i'm me. except maybe that i'm into feel-good music and that i'm a nerd.

the top 10 most played songs on my itunes are:

1. silver lining by rilo kiley (199 plays)
i wish i were jenny lewis, i really do. rilo kiley changed my life a few years ago and i've never gone back.
1. farmer chords by ben gibbard (199 plays)
i learned this song on the guitar. it is so hard. (not.) but i feel awesome every time i play it. i also wish i were ben gibbard because everything he does is awesome.
3. waiting on the world to change by john mayer (165 plays)
not a huge john mayer fan in general, but i listened to this song probably every day as i walked home from campus, once i got to the top of the maeser hill. it's the perfect song to end your day on campus.
4. just like heaven by the cure (155 plays)
once, rique, megan f., and i all pushed play on our ipods on this song at the same time and danced our way home from the library at 11:30 p.m. it was beautiful. people stared at us.
5. the sweetest thing by u2 (135 plays)
tommy and i put this song on our wedding video. and then we saw u2 in concert.
6. life in technicolor ii by coldplay (131 plays)
i listen to this song whenever i'm riding my bike. it fits there.
7. build me up buttercup by the foundations (129 plays)
remember how they always play this song at angels games?
8. pride (in the name of love) by u2 (120 plays)
sadly, i first learned this song from moulin rouge. and then i found it for reals and loved it way better as the original.
9. kingdom come by coldplay (111 plays)
i tried to learn this on the guitar but i couldn't. but it's so good i want you to listen to it.



10. 1 2 3 4 by feist (109 plays)
10. come on eileen by dexy's midnight runners (109 plays)
this song makes me dance. dance dance.

i love these songs. and many others.

unibrow

this man in my editing class has a unibrow.

i spent a long time trying to figure out why he just looked so . . . weird. (no offense, he just does.) and i figured it out.

it is very distracting.

and you know what? he is MARRIED. he has a CHILD. and he still has a unibrow. what is wrong with his wife? either she has a unibrow too, or she's blind. or . . . she LIKES his unibrow. (horrors.)

those are my highly uplifting thoughts for the day. now i'm off to finish the merchant of venice before my shakespeare class. (so. classy.)

no, i didn't cut my hair all off.

i just gave it a trim. sorry for all the anticipation, people. I WILL DO IT SOMETIME THOUGH.

just wanted to say:

we are currently in california and taking the too-short break that we deserve (haha). we got to see my awesome brothers play some awesome volleyball and are having an awesome time with my familia.

also, sixteen and a half months ago, this happened.

i am about thirty minutes away from bawling my head off in this picture. in case it wasn't obvious.

a lot has happened since then. she went to the philippines, i went to china, she got dengue fever, i got married, she taught the gospel, i taught gospel doctrine (once).

and six and a half weeks from TODAY, she's coming home. tommy and i may have made a paper chain counting down to when she comes home. maybe. (don't judge us, we know we're crazy.)


and today, i bought a flight to here:

TO SEE HER WHEN SHE GETS HOME.

eat your heart out, provo. i'm going to go see sister sarah elizabeth fairweather.

hair anxiety

when i lived in the dorms, oh so long ago, my good friend nathan used to call me and ask to speak to my hair. after he left on his mission, he would write letters addressed to my hair. this is all proof of how my hair is its own entity, how it practically is its own persona. seriously though--it does what it wants, and there is nothing i can do to it. end of story.

when i lived in the dorms, my hair looked like this:

i hated it by the end of the year and chopped it off. it felt awesome.

(clearly, my only friends are from freshman year. oh dj.)

however, my hair has been growing consistently and it now is this long (although nobody would ever actually know that because it is always in a bun or a braid. don't blame me, blame my lack of hair-doing skills):

(my hair looks deceptively good in this picture. it never looks this good. this is just right after i got out of the shower and then put it into a bun before it could frizz.)

now i am having hair anxiety. i'm having a hair cut on friday in california. (not that i travel to california to get my hair cut, i just will be out there and will have a hair cut while i'm there.) and i don't know what to do.

i have always wished i had the guts to do something like these styles:


so i need advice. there are two options:

1. trim the dead edges off and keep growing it out (so i can hopefully donate it) and leave it long.

2. chop it. fro it. love it. the only question is... am i brave enough?

one reason why i love my inlaws

is this picture.